A Grimm Recollection
by Parcasious
Summary: She wasn't supposed to be here, stuck in a body that wasn't her own. And most certainly not meant to deal with a young Arc.
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOGUE: The Woman in the Woods**

This wasn't happening, couldn't be happening.

She was running, lungs burning, and twigs cracking beneath her feet. What was going on, what the _hell_ was going on?!

She glanced behind her, at the humanoid black beast chasing after her. It was reducing all in its path into rubble, trees into splinters, boulders into fine dust. Its eery red eyes bore into her, almost as much as her reflection from the thing's pale mask.

 _Grimm_

The thought didn't escape her as she ran in a body that she _knew_ wasn't hers.

She shivered from a sudden gust of wind that blew red rose petals around her.

Torn white cloak flickering behind her, she pulled it in closer to prevent the beast from grabbing it and dragging her down.

Sweat glistened over her face, the exertion of forcing her already injured body forward almost impossible to bare with all the cuts and bruises hampering her movement. Yet she _had_ to move.

Silver eyes narrowed in concentration, she was trained, a thief, a con-artist, and a criminal. It was key in her profession to keep a clear mi-

Damn it! She ducked under the beast's lunge and took off in the opposite direction. She had no time to think as her legs once again carried her forward.

Her red bangs stuck to her forehead - from sweat, or blood, she didn't know - all that mattered was that she was approaching a bend in the woods. She could hear her heart beating in her chest, as she could literally feel the beast's breath wash over her.

She turned the bend, and froze, unable to move as a cliff lay before her.

She felt the hand that gripped her arm first, followed by the dripping of saliva hitting the ground.

She couldn't speak, couldn't qwell the terror building up from within her as the Grimm forced her around to stare at its pale masked visage - forced her to accept reality and really scrutinize the image that lay before her.

A round face encompassed by shoulder length hair, and silver eyes that stood in stark contrast to her previous black, reflected off of the Grimm's mask.

That face.

Was all she could think about as the Grimm opened its maw and bit into her flesh.

That face.

Was all she could think about as she recoiled from the pain and sent both her and the Grimm into the chasm.

 _That Face._

It was _Summer Rose_ from RWBY.

* * *

 _Never look back, sometimes there are circumstances that just can't be changed - but you know that better than anyone else don't you, Summer Holly?_

She woke with a startled gasp, head throbbing, and vision dull and murky. She blamed the alcohol she must have consumed before passing out. How else could she explain her headache? How else could she explain that _nightmare_?

She shook her head once, then twice, but instantly regretted it as pain bloomed across her body. She choked out a gasp, vision clearing as her senses began returning to her. One by one, everything wrong with her nightmare was coming back to her. The forest she was still in, the running, the Grimm - she shuddered.

 _Where was it?_

Her head snapped back and forth, the motion forcing her to gag from the blood that rushed up into her mouth. The fall hadn't helped her previous injuries, not one bit. At least the Grimm was gone. She couldn't see it anywhere around her; now she just had to deal with her injuries.

Her ankle was sprained, and she must have fractured something in her right arm as it refused to move anywhere above her shoulder. Still though, she willed herself to move by a tree and burrow into the hollow cavity near its trunk. It should give her some time to rest.

Slowly, she closed her eyes and drifted unconscious. Head drooped, she exposed her neck to the world, revealing a mark on her flesh. A dark hole with crawling black tendrils that faded in and out before disappearing completely.

* * *

 _It was the final job, the final act to put her past behind her. How could it have gone so wrong?_

Her ears picked up the noise around her before she had the chance to open her eyes. The rustling of leaves, the snapping of twigs. Whatever was near her was short, the sound of the footsteps not heavy enough to provide a dull thump on the ground. Regardless, she readied herself, relying on her experience to dictate how far away the adversary was.

She opened her eyes and blinked, then blinked again.

A boy stood directly in front of her, blond hair, and cerulean blue eyes staring at her with open concern. Hell, he was probably only nine or ten at best. He was barely half her height, and wearing an over-sized hoodie and pants that did little to convince her otherwise.

"Uhm, hi." The boy fiddled with his hands unsure of what to say. "I'm Jaune Arc," he eventually said.

* * *

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	2. Prologue: The Little Arc

There was something about the woman Jaune had first met in the woods behind his house a year ago. Perhaps it was the way she had refused help despite her injuries, or the way she was able to survive the isolation of the woods, either way, she _had_ to be a huntress.

He could tell with the way she carried herself like his sisters, and how fast her wounds healed. His father said it had something to do with Aura, but what was Aura? It didn't matter at the moment, what mattered was that he was going to get her to teach him.

He, Jaune Arc, wanted to be a hero! And all Huntsmen and huntresses were heroes who kept the Grimm at bay.

However, Jaune Arc didn't think it would be so _hard_. He wasn't talented like his sisters, nor as skilled as his father, who like his sisters had little time to teach him anything, no; they were always preoccupied with defeating Grimm and protecting the people, but he couldn't fault them for that. It was his own inability.

His mother had always told him that good things come to those who are righteous and patient. As it may be, the huntress in the woods may very well be his _good_ thing. Being as she was a short distance away from his house, she would be able to train him every day. Now if only he could get her to agree.

He krept quietly along the underbrush, eyes darting back and forth.

His parents had told him to stay away from the woods as Grimm were likely to appear, but he wasn't exactly going too far in. Only far enough to find the huntress. Besides, he was safe with the huntress.

"It isn't safe here, Arc," were the words that froze the young Arc's trail of thought. He turned around to gaze at unblinking silver. "Go home."

The words died in his mouth, but he couldn't just go home. He stared at the huntress who's name he had still yet to know.

The huntress sighed, using a hand to brush back her red bangs, but Jaune didn't miss the flicker in her eyes. It was always there, that niggling feeling that she was hiding something. Either way, it didn't matter if it was some secret huntress secret that only true huntresses knew?

"I can't train you, Arc." The huntress said after a moment, already used to his pestering. "Besides, I'm a stranger."

Jaune looked away, disappointed. It had already been six months of him asking, but only now did he realize that he wasn't getting anywhere. He looked up to stare at her steady gaze, and gave up. He knew when he wasn't welcome. "Sorry," he said dejectedly. "I'll ugh, stop bothering you."


	3. Prologue: Summer Holly

She stared quietly at the Arc's retreating form, and quietly mumbled to herself. She had to make a decision, and soon.

Her name was Summer Holly, a mercenary and thief for hire that lived in the bad lands of the planet Terra Twelve: a dessert planet heavily influenced by the handful of _Espers_ that first appeared on the mother planet of Earth.

She frowned, now wasn't the time to be thinking of such things, not when she found herself stuck in a world she had believed to be a work of fiction. Not anymore. At first, she had simply watched the series as a way to kill time, and imagine what her life could have been like if she had the option to be a hero. False fantasies that she spent days of her life drowning in. It was inevitable that she would develop a connection with the characters, but in the end, it was still all a fantasy.

 _Not anymore._

It was what she had decided on her final job, to be a hero, but look where that's gotten her? She mulled deeply. Isn't this what she wanted though? A fresh start? Summer Rose had been a character in the series that little was truly known about, but that all changed the moment Summer _Holly_ became Summer _Rose_.

You see, Summer Holly was an _Esper._ A low ranked, with an ability of perfect memory that was utterly useless when matched against her higher ranked peers. What use did perfect memory have against a pyrokinetic? Great, she would never forget the face of her killer. What an accomplishment. However, the circumstances she found herself in was an entirely different matter. _She had Summer Rose's memories_.

 _I want to be a hero. A protector of the people of Remnant._

 _I want to be a hero. A protector of the people of Terra Twelve._

A wisp of a distant memory coincided with the same basis of another. She would admit that a part of her strongly wanted to change future events, to protect everyone including her _Little Rose_ from harm.

She shook her head, she wasn't thinking properly. Too many memories.

Summer tightened her hands into fists. She wasn't a hero. She was a _mercenary_ , a _thief_.

 _"You don't have to be,"_ A voice echoed in her head.

She looked up, startled. She was sure that she was alone. "Who-"

"AAAH!"

 _Jaune!_


	4. Prologue: The Turning Tide

_When you've seen what I've seen, and done what I've done, how could there be any room for redemption?_

Summer burst through the foliage and into a clearing, fumbling with the strap she used to secure her weapon.

 _Why was she trying so hard?_

 _I want to be a hero. A protector of the people of Remnant._ Damn memories, now wasn't the time.

Her body was running on instinct alone; a fact that wasn't lost to her as she drew a pair of scorched metal from her back, the razor edges glowing a dull red. She could feel the familiar heat of her blades, her hands grasping at the leather hilt of her twin swords, curved into crescent moons by the base- khopeshes, or sickle swords. Either way, she fiddled with her fingers until they reached the hidden mechashift latch at the base of the hilt.

 _Ember Rose._

Flames flickered to life as the crescent moons bent down to the hilt and grated metal against metal, creating sparks.

She saw Jaune, almost before he saw her appear in the clearing- the Ursa taking note of the new arrival and growling.

Summer stood unperturbed. She had dealt with many Ursa before, her memories assured her, but it was her body that truly knew.

 _Twelve meters, defense strongest by the hide, weakest at the abdominal._

Her fingers moved with precision, sliding comfortably into her combat pouch, and drawing a handful of dust rounds which were promptly loaded and fired.

Jaune didn't know what to do as the Ursa turned its attention away from him. Instead he froze and stared in wonder as a hail of fire forced it onto its knees. _This was the strength of a hunter, the strength to be a hero_. Something he could never hope to be. No teacher, no talent, a child out of his league.

 _Negativity_ , it was exuding off of Jaune in waves.

Jaune watched with a sinking feeling as the Ursa turned its gaze back to him, the dust rounds ineffective against its hide.

Summer knew she _needed_ to move fast when the Ursa turned away from her. Her bullets were ineffective, but she already knew they wouldn't have worked. They were merely a distraction to buy enough time for the Arc to hull ass and move. Something that seemed to have had slipped his mind. Now she needed to get in close for the kill, but didn't have enough time to do so.

 _"Use your Aura."_

Huh?

 _"I'll do it for you."_

She felt it come in a wave, the sheer euphoria flooding her with power as a red haze surrounded her, and with it, a single steady light flickered on within her pouch before disappearing as Summer Rose's scroll registered new information.

Suddenly Summer could see everything, _feel_ everything, the world was in her grasp and she utilized it. Her weapons mechashifed in seconds as Ember Rose ignited its dust rounds from within its hollow chamber.

Flames flickered to life in raging torrents, propelling her forward, and leaving embers and rose petals to the wind as she disappeared from point A, to point B.

Her Aura protected her from the heat and blunt force of her initial slice directly into the beast's hide, face impassive as she stabbed in her other blade and bisected the Ursa in half- the flames from her sword extending and melting clean through anything she cut.

Jaune watched silently as the Ursa vanished before him, eyes left to wander over his saviour's form. "Y-You came?" He asked uncertainly. Huntress or not, he had believed he had annoyed her too much to be beyond saving.

Ignoring the Arc's question Summer cut in with her own.

"Are you alright, Arc?"

"Y-Yeah," Jaune muttered as he winced from his injuries. "Mostly." He looked up hopefully, reading the mood. Perhaps now... "Will you train me," he asked.

 _You don't have to be_. The words rung in Summer's head. She could help, create a better outcome for the characters she knew to be fiction.

 _"Didn't you want to be a hero?"_

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Stupid voice. She didn't even know where it was coming from. "Still strangers," she muttered out with a small smile. Stupid voice. _She would try it for now, be something that she wasn't_.

Jaune smiled, understanding that he had at least had a chance. "But strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."

* * *

Ozpin sipped at his coffee, unzipped black suit and buttoned vest, unwrinkled and contrasting greatly with his green cowl. He was the perfect image of calm, a far cry from the brash man in front of him. Legs kicked up onto his desk, and metal flask trickling alcohol into his lightly bearded mouth. The man glanced up, red eyes glaring dangerously as his black bangs, normally swept back, shadowed his eyes. "This better not be a joke, Ozpin," the man said.

The reports said otherwise. The sudden activation of a signal long since lost said otherwise.

"Oh I assure you, Qrow," Ozpin clicked a button on his desk and a file uploaded into Qrow's scroll. "This is not a joke."

 **Hunter's Registration# 003497**

 **Summer Rose: Graduate of Beacon**

 **Status: Inactive Error-**

 **Checking Aura levels...Verifying results.**

 **Status: _Active_**

* * *

 ** _Well, this sets up the entire setting. Longer chapter will be ahead._**

P a treon. com (slash) Parcasious


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